Film

The Argentine director Carlos Sorin lets his camera linger over every gorgeous detail of a Patagonian landscape, country estate, and family household in this story of a dying man named Antonio. Antonio is eighty years old and bedridden, but none the less excited about a visit from his estranged son Pablo who lives in Europe. His housekeepers give him a haircut, they fret over the menu, he pulls out a forty-year-old bottle of champaign that he's been saving for a special occasion, and he asks for his favorite blue jacket. Before Pablo comes, he grabs his favorite walking stick and sneaks out for one last walk on his 750-acre estate. The birds and butterflies, the flowers in the fields, the wind, clouds, and the sun, all flood him with memories. Inside his house we hear the non-stop rhythm of an old clock pendulum. As Pablo is a famous pianist, they get the family piano tuned. The passage of time, the particularity of place, and family memories merge for Antonio and the visiting Pablo. In Spanish with English subtitles.